Marine Meteorology

[Jonathan Whitehead]

Didnt know wether to post this under Education or Weather/Chasing but after some internal debate and coordination with surrounding offices felt this was best put under Education but MODs feel free to move as you wish.

Im curious as to how many of you on here are into Marine Meteorology?

I just finished up an internship with a major private weather firm that does most of their business in the marine meteorology sector through forecasting wind/waves and swells for the shipping industry across the world. This, in combination with a myriad of Marine COMET modules, has given me a basic understanding of how marine meteorology works.

Some things Ive learned include, dynamic fetches/resonance, coastal LLJs, QuickScat winds and their shortcomings, marine boundary layer meteorology, how to use a Breitschneider nomogram, and the fundamentals of marine ocean models with their various coordinate systems and the disadvantages and advantages of each of these systems.

As some of you know, Im unemployed and looking for a job in forecasting, wether it be atmospheric or oceanic, so Id like to know from some of you what you think my chances are of getting a job with a large marine forecasting firm. Im thinking my chances are rather slim seeing as how a good majority of the mets at my internship company were ex-Navy; dont really think I stand much chance up against them in an interview.

Please, any advice or suggestion would be much appreicated.

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

FWIW Ive posted my first marine forecast discussion on my blog page. The link is in my signature. Its not the best but I figure for someone coming out of OU, where they dont teach marine meteorology one iota, its not half bad.

 

[Glenn Rasmussen]

I work for Weathernews - WNI (ship routing company) and I too am an Ex Navy guy, however our company is not hiring...that is probably the biggest hurdle you will face.

That said, I don't think being non-military hurts you too much. Most of my colleagues are direct from college grads and this is their first job experience. My wife is an OU grad with no prior experience and works at WNI also.

The second hurdle, is the limited companies doing this business and your willingness to relocate. A few larger companies are Applied Weather Technologies (AWT) located in Northern California and AMI located in the same area. There are a few other companies, but they are smaller in the field, one that comes to mind is up in New York whom seem to be regularly hiring.

As for advice on what to know if you plan to apply or seek employment in the field, is strong study of seasonal systems (Monsoons ...namely SW and NE), wind/fetch effects, and Tropical storm systems (genesis, tendencies, model issues, etc). Learing some terminology and information about ships would also be beneficial to your chances.

Good Luck.

Regards,
Glenn

 

[John Massura]

Like Glennr, I also work with WNI. I agree that not being ex-Navy won't hurt much, if at all (sorry Glennr ).

Another thing that is important is just communication skills, and problem solving. Clients will be confused about a route, ship captains won't completely understand why a certain route is better for certain situations, etc. Plenty of shipping industry related administrative detective work too at times, which I actually kinda enjoy.

I had zero shipping related experience when I started (though I did have extensive satellite analysis experience from working at Offutt), so like Glennr said, you wouldn't be written off due to lack of experience.

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

Glenn and John-

Thanks so much for the advice. Yeah Im actually slowly getting into marine meteorology more and more. Beginning to like it some. It just requires continued studying. The COMET modules are a HUUUUGEE help as I am constantly taking notes everytime I go through them and then when I write a discussion, I refer to these notes. I will say that my internship this last summer was down in Houston so that should make it fairly obvious who I worked with in regards to shipping. That experience was a great eye opener in itself. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I plan on putting up another marine discussion similar to this last one sometime this week on Danielle regarding her swells way out into the Atlantic. Ill post a reply once I have it posted.

Thanks again